Category Archives: Mastercoin

There are more and more Altcoins entering the Ecoin marketplace all the time. One of the big questions in the Ecoin community now is if Altcoins are a fad or have real staying power. This is obviously an unanswerable question. I believe that Altcoins do have a long-term place in the future of E-currency. The web is all about long tail and customization. Most new Ecoins have a unique feature that makes them different than other coins.

Altcoins may be the long tail of currency.

Namecoin has unique features in the blockchain. Quarkcoins have a unique feature for inflation. Infinitecoins have a unique feature to keep transaction costs low. Mastercoins are designed to leverage the Bitcoin blockchain and address existing Ecoin issues with security and refunds, as well as offer the ability to make your own Ecoin. Also Altcoins already represent a significant market share of all Ecoins which means people are following them and trading their Bitcoins and Fiat for Altcoins. For now I am constantly researching and acquiring Altcoins. I like to spend some time reading up on the features of the new Ecoins and trying to pick out the most interesting. A question I typically ask is “what about this Ecoin makes it unique?” and “does that unique feature seem to be something that will excite the market and community?”

Monitor Bitcoin Talk Forum

Most Ecoins start as a developer project and are announced in popular Ecoin forums. Recently new Ecoins start with a fundraising campaign that typically involves first adopters getting to trade existing coins (Typically BTC) for the new Ecoins at a better exchange rate than will be available when the new Ecoin starts trading. Examples of this are Mastercoin and Netcoin. If you want access to these early Ecoin opportunities, monitor the Bitcointalk Forum for new release announcements and insight.

Review Cryptocoin Charts

After an Ecoin gains momentum, it will start to be traded on an Ecoin Exchange. I spend time monitoring these exchanges for new Ecoin exchange match up. One of my favorite tools is Cryptocoin charts. These charts are an easy way to see which Ecoins are trading and the Ecoin’s recent momentum. Typically you will see at least one or two Ecoins that are making big moves (over 25%+ in the last 24 hours).

Pick your favorite Ecoins

It is very difficult to pick which one of these movers is going to break out. We typically exchange our LTC or BTC for four or more of these movers at once. This seems to increase the likelihood that we will pick the fast mover of the week. Last week, we picked Devcoins which moved up about 200% on the week.

Mastercoin is an open source Ecoin being developed by the Bitcoin community. Mastercoin is not your typical new ecoin. It is different than Litecoin, Infintecoin etc. It does not have its own blockchain. Instead it leverages the existing Bitcoin block chain and adds new services on top of Bitcoin. Mastercoin is still very much in the initial development stage. Once fully implemented, Mastercoins will allow for extremely small transactions at no or little transaction costs, allow user to create their own coins, and create a tools for refunds and cancellations.

Mastercoin allows for extremely small transactions

Right now, Bitcoin transaction costs $.10 at a $1000 Bitcoin value. This makes small purchases almost impossible with Bitcoins. Mastercoin is designed to piggyback on the Bitcoin blockchain and allow small transaction to process for free or a very small fee.

Mastercoin is a long tail Ecoin platform

The Mastercoin software will allow anyone – neighborhoods, business, charities, schools etc. to create their own ecoins that use the Bitcoin protocol and are tied to Bitcoin value. The software implementing Mastercoins will contain simple tools which will allow anyone to design and release their own currency with their own rules (without doing software development). Mastercoin could do for currency, what WordPress did for websites.

Mastercoin has a special features to secure your Ecoins.

Mastercoin has a special feature referred to as the savings/guardian model. This is basically a saving wallet and a guardian key. If your Mastercoin wallet gets hacked, or the key to your guardian address gets lost or destroyed, the coins can still be recovered. Right now, if your Bitcoin wallet gets hacked or if you lose access to the wallet, your Bitcoins are lost. Mastercoin allows for reversible transactions. Transfers can be reversed for one year. One scenario where this could become valuable is for estate planning. You simply give your heir(s) a paper copy to the private key of your savings address, but you keep the guardian address key to yourself. If you die, your heirs can transfer the funds out of your savings (they will have to wait for the reversibility period to pass), but they can’t steal from you while you are alive since you are the only one with the key to the guardian address and can reverse their transaction if they try.

Mastercoin has an extremely active community which has pointed out and corrected flaws in the currency. Mastercoin, Coloredcoin and Bitshares recently formed a industry foundation to advocate for the continued free operation of Ecoin protocols. Mastercoin has a current market cap of about $50,000,000 and is currently only available through private transactions. For additional information about acquiring Mastercoins submit your email below.